Parallels
by Woopdydoodle
Summary: A loud explosion rocks through a small American town, and strange animals begin appearing. John soon becomes the first of the Touched and stuggles with the others in a world he knows won't accept them. Rated Teen for swearing and violence.
1. Fight and Flight

**Am I crazy for uploading two fanfics in parallel? Maybe, but oh well.**

**I'm considering doing character crossover from my other fanfic-in-progress, but I'm not sure about that yet.**

**Anyhow, please enjoy the first chapter of Parallels.**

**In case it wasn't obvious, don't even think of pulling the stunt John does with the knife; you could get in more trouble than you can imagine. Seriously, no matter what, don't do it.**

**Anyway... on with the story.**

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Chapter 1: Fight and Flight

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"John, what are you doing? Pay attention!"

John had been doodling in the corner of his notebook again.

_Damn teacher,_ he thought. _When am I actually gonna need to know about Shakespeare's family or whatever it was she's talking about? Honestly…_

He pretended to pay attention for a few seconds, until the teacher turned away. He went back to doodling. He was drawing a small dragon in pencil near the corner of the page. The bell rang and he was dismissed to leave.

John walked home; he was only a few blocks from his school anyway. He thought for a moment, then doubled back to take a roundabout route. Twice last week he got jumped by a couple of older teens. He didn't even know why they did it; he had never seen them before in his life. Unfortunately, his detour tactic didn't help.

He passed by an alley and was slammed to the ground from the side.

"Give me your money."

"I don't have any on me!" John said shakily.

The air quickly left his lungs as he was punched in the stomach while another boy stomped on his most sensitive area. A third boy walked closer and stomped hard on John's wrist, producing a noticeable crunching sound. John curled up on the ground. He couldn't even yell out in pain.

"You'd better have money tomorrow."

The small group of boys left before John could get a close look at them.

_Like that would help, you'll still beat the stuffing out of me,_ he managed to think through the blinding pain.

Tears leaked out of his eyes. He couldn't understand why these people kept doing this to him, but he knew he wanted some payback. When most of the pain had subsided, he tried to stand up, but when he placed his left hand on the ground, his wrist exploded with pain. He groaned, and slowly stood, cradling his broken wrist in his undamaged arm. He limped back home.

"Hey Mom," he croaked as he entered through the door.

His mother looked around the corner, took one look at her son, and said, "It was those boys again, wasn't it?"

John nodded shakily. The first time it had happened, his mother had promptly called the police, but it had now happened three more times and they still hadn't been caught because John never got a good look at them.

John sat down and his mother looked him over, particularly his wrist. She used to be a nurse by profession, but had recently retired.

"You got lucky; it doesn't look like more than a fracture. Even so, we're going to the hospital for X-rays."

After spending half of the day in the hospital, John finally returned home, sat down on the couch, and turned on the TV, gingerly positioning the sling his arm was in. He decided to blow off his homework; if the teacher didn't like it, it was her problem.

BANG!

John cringed with pain as he suddenly sat bolt upright. He glanced at the clock. He must have dozed off in front of the TV; it was 3:20 AM.

_What the hell was that?_ he thought. It sounded like a combination of loud thunder, and a car accident involving a large truck.

He looked out of the living room window and saw that it was drizzling outside. Shrugging, he went back to sleep.

He woke up the next morning feeling unrested. He ate breakfast, and got ready to leave for school. His mother had her back turned, and John seized his chance. He quietly grabbed a kitchen knife and concealed it carefully in his pocket and under his T-shirt.

_Let's see those guys mug me with a knife in their leg,_ he thought.

He walked toward school, alert for anyone around him, but none came. He hid the knife stealthily in his locker when at school, and placed books on top of it. He started regretting bringing it almost at once.

_I could be expelled for this,_ he thought. _But if it keeps me from getting beat up again…_

After another day of not paying much attention, John reclaimed the knife from his locker and left, feeling relieved.

_They're almost definitely gonna try something today._

To try and avoid the situation, John took an even wider detour to avoid them. He went all the way to the edge of town, where there was still swaths of forest and an old abandoned farm. He walked along the sidewalk toward home, but heard something big moving in the trees. He stopped. There wouldn't be bears this close to people would there?

A figure emerged through a bush and looked around, with a confused expression, as far as John could tell. It was on all fours, but as John watched, it rose up to sniff the air, into a sort of hunched sitting position. It had dark, almost black fur on its back except for a few bright red blotches between its shoulders, and had pale, beige colored fur on its chest and underside.

John was more confused than anything, then thought, _Oh I get it, I must have fallen asleep in class again and I'm having some kind of weird dream._

The animal sniffed the air again. A gentle breeze blew toward it. It sniffed once more, and its eyes snapped to John. It looked directly at him and John looked back.

_Hang on, is that thing… drooling?_

The creature looked hungrily at John and stood up on its hind legs, took a wide stance, and roared.

John unconsciously started backing away from the animal, but ran as it charged at him on all fours.

_Bad dream, bad dream!_

He turned a corner and was facing a chain linked fence in an alleyway. The creature stopped as it reached the alley and slowly turned to face him.

Instinctively, John took the knife out with his uninjured hand, but nearly dropped it as flames erupted from the creature's back. It opened its mouth wide and John saw a slight glow come from within it. He barely dodged in time as an inferno whipped past him, igniting a few bits of garbage in the alley and torching a hole through the fence. John got up, groaning as he realized there was a blackened burn on his right leg. He squeezed through the hole and limped away as fast as he could.

He looked back and saw the creature sprinting toward him, jump cleanly over the fence, and continue to pursue him.

_What kind of dream is this? It's really hurting me! That burn feels pretty real to me! But is has to be a dream, this thing can't be real, and where is everyone anyway? Still at work, maybe, but I have to be dreaming!_

John whipped around the corner as fast as his wounded leg would allow, and waited, planning to ambush the creature with the knife as it left the alley. Seconds later, it tore out of the alleyway and John slashed at the creature. The next thing he knew was pain on his uninjured forearm, and being slammed to the ground.

The animal stood over him, pinning him to the cold sidewalk, and holding his arm clamped tightly in its mouth full of pointed teeth. The creature smelled very faintly of sulfur.

_OK, John, you need to wake up now!_ He told himself, panicked.

But then the creature released him. It was shaking its head like it was being bothered by flies, and John scrambled away. He glanced at his arm. There were a series of bloodied holes in his am where the creature had bitten him. The creature looked at him almost… apologetically?

He tried to run, but instantly felt dizzy, and he collapsed against a brick building several feet from the creature. John felt a tingling in the bite, and it was like he was being pulled out of his body. Stars rushed past, there was a bright flash of light, and he saw a world that looked like Earth, but with the continents completely rearranged and melded into bizarre shapes.

Strange thought which were not his own whipped through his head. Bizarre emotions, unfamiliar sensations, and alien knowledge – deep understandings of time-space, parallel dimensions, alternate realities.

He felt himself being drawn back the way he came, and abruptly clunked back to his own sensations. He felt a little nauseous. He looked down and saw a large pool of blood on the sidewalk where his arm was. He passed out.


	2. Awakened

Chapter 2: Awakened

John woke, but saw nothing. Complete darkness and his limbs were pinned so that he was curled into a tight ball. And yet, they weren't. He stood, blinded, but still somehow with the sensation of being trapped in a ball. He opened his eyes and had a similar sensation; he simultaneously saw nothing but darkness, and the inside of a wooded clearing. One of his sights beheld something rounded and black on the ground. He approached it and picked up the cool oval. He held it close to himself and felt his whole body warm. He felt excited, he wanted to move! He pressed hard against the bonds holding his limbs still and saw a chink of light appear. He pressed into it and he saw a chunk of the rounded oval fall off. He placed it hurriedly on the ground, unsure of what was happening. He pressed into the light, blinded at first, and saw a tiny dark colored creature fall out of its casing. He felt wet and cold and knew he had to find some way to dry the goop off of the tiny creature. He took off his sweatshirt and felt something dry and warm wrap around him. He touched, and felt the touch of something brush against his side, and something suddenly clicked apart, but not all the way, as if it were connected by a wire.

John felt dizzy, but was at last coherent. A tiny dark blue animal lay before him. It had four legs, and much of its head and longish neck was covered in light, black hair. There looked to be a small spike-like extension on the back of its head.

John couldn't explain why, but he felt connected to this newborn creature, like it was an extension of himself, even though he had no idea what it was. It turned and looked quizzically at him. He moved closer and picked the little animal up. It seemed to like the warmth of his arms. He felt dizzy again as a bit of the alien knowledge came back to him; something about contact between beings of separate dimensions causing double selves in each.

_I'm not sure how that ties in to this little guy, but I shouldn't leave him here, something might come after him._

John remembered the fire breathing creature from before.

_It had to be a funky dream, but I don't remember how I got here. Maybe those guys jumped me again and I got hit on the head?_

He carefully placed the creature in his backpack, leaving it unzipped enough for it to breathe and carrying the books that once occupied the space. The little creature didn't resist as John zipped the pack.

_One thing's for sure though; this thing definitely isn't anything from around here. I should get him home, and I'll work out what to do with him when I'm better prepared._

John looked around, and decided to head in an arbitrary direction. He eventually saw streetlights and walked toward them. He emerged not far from where he had seen the fire breathing monster/hallucination come from. It was almost dusk, and he hurried home, thinking only about the monster roaming the streets somewhere.

He made it home and knocked on the door. His mother answered it.

"John! Where have you been? You had me worried sick!"

She glanced down.

"What did you do to your other arm?"

John looked down. He hadn't even realized the dried blood caked on his previously uninjured arm.

_So it wasn't a dream._ He looked over his shoulder and hurried inside.

"It was them again, wasn't it?"

"No, actually. Mom, I think you should call animal control. I got bit by some kind of weird fire breathing monster!"

His mother just stared at him for a moment, then sat down on the couch and put a hand over her face, muttering something about her son being traumatized.

"Mom, I'm serious!"

He told her everything that had happened. She just looked back at him like he was losing his mind.

"Mom, I'm not lying, look!"

He unzipped his backpack, and the small blue and black creature poked its head out. His mother gave a short scream, and looked like she was trying to climb the wall behind her.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Don't know, but I really like it for some reason."

"Don't touch it!"

John ignored her and lifted the small creature out of the backpack and placed it on his knee. It liked the warmth and curled up in his lap.

"Mom, I really don't think this one will be a problem, at least not right now, but that other one I told you about almost fried me, so we need to do something about that."

She slowly got up and went to the phone, watching the little creature like a hawk the whole time, but it had fallen asleep.

John heard his mother talking on the phone as she peered around the corner.

"No, this isn't a joke!"

"Yes, there's some kind of creature loose in the town, and it's very dangerous."

"I'd say significantly more than a bear."

"Will, you please just check?"

John spoke, "They didn't believe you, did they?"

She shook her head. "Never really expected them to."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well," she hesitated. "I don't know." She was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "What are we going to do about that thing?"

"Well, I don't think we should let others know about it."

"John, you don't even know what it is; by what you said, it could be an alien or something!"

He gingerly placed the creature on the couch, careful not to wake it, and washed the dried blood from his arm, and cleaned the burn on his leg. When he came back, he found his mother right where she was before he left; staring at the creature like it was a huge rodent.

Something occurred to him. "Mom, last night, I heard a loud bang, like thunder but different. And now these weird animals start showing up. You don't think they had something to do with that, do you?"

"Which direction did it come from?"

John thought, then said, "The same direction as the edge of town by that run down old farm. The monster came from the same direction."

She thought, and then said, "John, I don't want you to go anywhere near there again."

"But what if…?"

"No buts. You're staying here."

Sighing in frustration, John settled back on a pillow.

She stayed with him through the night.


	3. Rifts

Chapter 3: Rifts

John awoke the next morning, feeling something nudging his face. He opened his eyes and found the animal standing on his chest, nosing his cheek. He glanced over and saw his mother asleep on the couch across from him. The creature nosed him a little more insistently and made a quiet, rather pathetic whining.

"Shhhh. You'll wake my mom."

The creature looked longingly at him.

"Oh shit, that's right you didn't eat anything yesterday, did you?" he whispered.

He was sure the animal didn't understand him, but he carefully picked it up and carried it to the kitchen.

"Now what do you eat?"

Having a small stroke of inspiration, he walked up to the creature, which he had placed on a chair, where it looked around, interested in its surroundings. He tried to grab its face, but it moved its head away each time he tried. He eventually caught it, and ignoring a small growl of displeasure from it, lifted its lips open a little. He hastily let go when he saw it had a mouth full of ivory white needles, interlocking perfectly.

"OK…" John said nervously. He went to the fridge and took out a piece of deli meat, which he carefully held out to the animal. It sniffed it, then quickly jabbed its head forward like a snake and took it. John quickly moved his fingers out of harm's way. It at the slice of meat with vigor, and then sat down, making a slight purring noise.

"Now then… are you a boy or a girl?" He felt awkward for looking, but didn't see anything that answered his question.

"Hmmm…"

He tentatively reached out and pet the animal's head. He found that the spike on its head was just hair and not a horn as he had originally thought. On a whim, John grabbed a drawing pad and pencil and drew a sketch of the small creature. It didn't move around much, which made it much easier to draw. When he was finished, he set the pad down and pet the animal some more. He felt himself growing strangely content. The creature stood up and looked at the drawing. John turned it around so it could see it properly. It looked a little puzzled, and John chuckled at it.

"Ya know what? I think I'm gonna go down to that old farm today, Mom told me not to, but there could be more things coming from there. And besides, I want to find out where you came from."

He put the creature in his closet, where he figured it couldn't get into trouble. As soon as the door shut, John suddenly felt… lonely. He shook his head to clear it, and quietly left the house.

Even as he closed the door, he thought, _This is crazy. What if that monster is out there? What if there are more of them? But if there are, people have to know about it!_

People were going about their daily business and he drew little more than a glance here and there, despite the fact that he looked like he had just come out of a warzone.

_Thank God there weren't any people out when that thing chased me, at least._

He made it to where he was the previous day. There was a spot on the sidewalk that looked like it was covered in dried tomato sauce, with a series of streaks on one end like something had been dragged through it.

_Hmmm…_

He headed toward the direction of the abandoned farm. He slowly made his way through the overgrown field. He approached the broken down barn and found scraps of wood littering the ground, most with apparently fresh breaks. He rounded the corner of the barn and found it shattered, like a bomb had gone off inside it. He cautiously approached it.

KABOOM!

Several more chunks of rotted wood went flying and John was blasted off of his feet and landed hard on his back several feet away. Gasping for air, he sat up and saw what looked like a bulge in the air; light seemed bent around it and nearby it waved as if from intense heat. A tiny green creature emerged, followed by what looked like a huge, dark dragonfly. The dragonfly looked confused and agitated and it quickly flew off; its fast wings making a powerful wind beneath it.

The other creature was much smaller. It tumbled out of the void, and fell with a plop to the ground. As soon as it contacted the ground, it was like a wave flew out in all directions for about twenty yards. The dry, withering grasses suddenly turned green and small blossoms appeared in the area. It slowly picked itself off the ground, and rose into the air on a pair of insect-like wings which looked much too small to support its weight. It had a diminutive, somewhat humanoid body, and an almost disproportionately sized head for such a small frame. Its head extended back into a sort of teardrop shape and it had a pair of small antennae-like structures on its forehead.

The air in the barn returned to normal. The creature looked around, appraisingly, and looked directly at John. He knew it had seen him, and made to scramble away from it but it floated just a foot before him before he could even move. John sat still where he was, paralyzed with fear.

He felt a pressure in the air in from of his face, then heard in his head, "Who are you, then?" John quickly glanced in either direction, but saw nobody. He heard the voice again, "You've already been Touched." A pause, then, "If things go as I expect, there will be many more. I am Celebi."

John stared dumbly at the creature. "Are you… talking? And in English at that?"

"Of course."

John was stuck dumb for a moment then said, "Well, I – I'm John. Uh, what did you mean by I've been 'Touched?' And what exactly are you? What was that thing you came out of? What's going on?" John was getting a little hysterical.

"Well, first, it's nice to meet you, John. Second, you may already know, but not understand what it means to be Touched. On great occasions, little blips appear between close parallel dimensions which allow some things to be transferred between them. If a living thing passes through one of these rifts, and comes in contact with certain creatures, usually intelligent beings, it will cause a parallel duplicate of that creature to be created in each of the two dimensions. I can tell I've lost you." The floating animal smiled, almost human. "Some living things and virtually all intelligent beings have parallels in other dimensions; effectively, if by chance you were born in another plane, you would be born as that creature. You have been Touched, which means that you've come in very close contact with something from another world, my world, and that back in my world, a duplicate you has been born, and in this one, a duplicate of the parallel you has been born. Have you found yourself near an unfamiliar creature lately?"

John nodded jerkily.

"Then you have met your other self. You almost certainly feel close to one another and rightfully so."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"That's the question isn't it? Rifts tend to only appears once every several centuries, but lately there have been far more connections between out planes; two within the span of two days, and a third less than a century before that. I predict that if things continue as they have, many of your people will become Touched. There's even the possibility of a permanent link between our worlds, but I've never seen such a thing happen."

"But that _is_ a bad thing!" John blurted out. "The thing that… ah… Touched me, just about fried me, and then almost tore my arm off!" He displayed the still very visible bite holes.

"It's not truly their fault. It's always the same; they are uncontrollably driven to Touch others. The only way for them to come in close enough contact is to bite others; saliva mixing with blood is close enough for a person to be Touched."

"Is there anything to do to stop this?"

"I'm afraid not. I was sent here to return those from my world back home when they wish, and to try to control them if they become… overzealous if your people resist being Touched."

"So you're not going to do anything about this!"

"There's nothing to do, I'm afraid. There's no way to stop rifts, and if a permanent link forms, then it will become more of a diplomacy issue between the two worlds."

John thought for a moment, and then said, "I hate to break it to you, but if some crazy monster comes after one of us, odds are people will try to kill it."

"We're much more resilient that you may think, and you shouldn't underestimate our intelligence."

"You don't get it! If this world thinks that there's some kind of unstoppable outbreak, it will cause all kinds of problems for everyone. If it gets severe enough, they might even nuke this place!"

"What is 'nuke'?"

"It doesn't matter; the point is that I don't see people here just accepting this!"

"We'll just have to wait and see, but thank you for being forward about this. Knowing that there will likely be substantial resistance should help prevent casualties."

John was full of adrenaline. "What are we gonna do?"

"Hope that things go well; it's all we can."

John sighed into his knees.

"What are you anyway? You said your name is Celebi, but frankly, I don't know what you are."

"Back in my world, I am one of what's known as pokemon. More specifically, I am… there's no way to describe it in your language; the closest thing would likely be a mortal angel, though in my plane we are known as the legendaries."

John looked up. All this time, had he been speaking to some kind of deity?

"How many of you are there?"

"Pokemon are everywhere in my world and are very diverse. Population wise, there are billions. Variety wise, there are many hundreds."

"Hundreds!"

"Yes, and I do not know how many kinds may come to your world, but it is mostly irrelevant. So far, I believe a Yanmega followed me through the rift, and is seems you were Touched by some kind of fire type."

John described it to the creature.

"A Typhlosion then. Two pokemon should be easy to manage, but I may be very busy when and if more arrive. Now, before they get into more trouble than necessary, I must find the pair of them. I may come to check on you as well if I can, First Touched of your kind. Farewell."

The creature zipped off at amazing speed; the plants below where it flew becoming visibly healthier as it passed.


	4. Connection

Chapter 4: Connection

John sat where he was, thinking, for several more minutes before easing to his feet and heading back home. He made it halfway there, when he suddenly felt… fear? Startled, John looked around, but there was nothing frightening around. The brief moment of fear turned to panic, and John couldn't understand why. Then, he suddenly couldn't breathe. It was like an invisible noose had been placed around his neck. The feeling quickly subsided, but the panic did not. He sped up toward home.

He made it back a few minutes later.

"John! Where have you been! I hope you didn't go to that side of town that I specifically forbade you from going to!"

"Mom, I honestly can't talk right now."

John hurried to his room and found the closet door open and empty.

He hurried back to his mother. "Mom, where's the little guy?"

"Gone. I called animal control and they took it away." Seeing the look on her son's face, she continued. "Son, you don't know what that thing is! It could be poisonous or something! I couldn't risk something happening to you and more than already has!"

John slowly recollected his thoughts and asked, "They were here just a few minutes ago, weren't they? And they put one of those wire loops around his head because they scared him and he tried to get away, didn't they?"

"How did you…?"

"Mom, I might not know exactly what it is, but after talking to Celebi, I know _who_ it is!"

"Talking to whom now?"

"I'll explain it all later, it's too complicated to go into now! The point is that thing is _me_ from some weird parallel dimension!"

John's mother looked at him skeptically.

"I know what happened because I felt what he felt just a minute ago, and I'm guessing that whatever happens to him happens to me, because through some weird technicality, we're the same person! We have to get him back, pronto."

She just looked at him.

"Mom, if you won't help me, then tell me which way they went, because regardless of what you say, I'm gonna make sure he's safe!"

"Fine, get in the car, but tomorrow, you're going for counseling."

"Fine, good, just let's go!"

They got in the car and John's mother started driving toward the animal control center. John couldn't stop himself from tapping his knee nervously.

"How much further?"

"A few more miles."

John felt a sudden sharp pain in his arm and he yelped.

"What is it?"

"I think they just either drew blood or gave him some kind of shot- Owww…"

He had felt another shark stick, this time in his other arm, and suddenly felt drowsy.

"Anf I'm guffing, that one waf the latter," he said drunkenly before passing out, his seatbelt locking and preventing him from falling forward.

Some time later, John was being shaken lightly. He felt warm and sleepy, but forced his eyes open. His mother was mouthing something and had a concerned look on her face, but he couldn't hear her. He grumbled something about cookies and fought off another wave of sleep. With difficulty, he lifted his head and saw that they were parked in from of an official looking building. He clumsily fumbled for the door handle and let himself out. His sense of equilibrium was way off and he barely remained on his feet. His mother grabbed him beneath the arm and helped him inside.

John heard his mother speaking with her voice raised to a man behind the counter who kept saying he was sorry, but he wasn't authorized to do something, saying something about a new species and biologists having been called in from all over.

Though he felt very much disoriented, John spoke up, "Liffen guy, if you did somefink to ma buddy, I'ma gonna drop yo aff righ' here and now!"

The man behind the counter firmly said something about not letting them in, period.

John said, "*hic* you!"

He drunkenly approached a door nearby and pushed his way into it. There were rows of cages full of animals on either side, and a door at the end of the iron hall. He staggered toward the door, reached the end of the hall and pulled open the door. He entered a sterile looking lab where several people in white coats were bustling around excitedly, stirring mixtures of fluids, looking into microscopes, all with childish grins on their faces. In the far corner of the room, there was a small pet crate containing a small blue and black creature, clearly sedated, but safe.

"Woah, woah, you can't be in here!"

"I had to make sure he was safe."

"You can't be in here!" the man repeated.

"You'd better take good care of him."

They pushed John back out of the room, but he remained just outside the door, peering in the window until escorted back to the lobby, where he sat down and quickly fell back to sleep.

After what seemed like a long time, he came to once more. A man in a white coat was sitting nearby.

"You're, um… friend is fine," he said hurriedly.

John nodded, finally himself again.

"He, at least we think it's a he, is cleared to go, but like with all exotic, um… pets, you'll need a permit, but since it's only just been discovered, you shouldn't need one until it's been registered as a species. We only took a little blood for analysis and ran an X-ray or two. It's really quite an amazing creature, I've never even heard of anything close to it before. It's semi-warm blooded, almost like a dinosaur, and its DNA isn't like anything yet discovered on Earth; it doesn't even use all the same nucleotides. We sent a sample off to labs with better equipment. It also looks like its body structure is designed to go under some kind of metamorphosis, but I don't even see how it could, it's just fascinating." The biologist rambled on and on.

John's concentration slipped quickly. "Where is he?" he asked.

"Oh, ah… just in the other room. The sedative should have worn off by now."

"It did."

The biologist frowned a little, but went into the other room and came out carrying pet crate with the creature in it. It hopped around a little, excited as it saw John. The man in the coat placed the box on the ground and stood back.

"We don't have all the results back on this thing, so you might not want to – ah..."

John had already opened the door of the cage and let the animal out. He picked it up and it curled up in his lap again.

"Sorry about what happened, I know what you went through, believe me," John whispered.

The scientist spoke up again, "Oh ah, are you feeling better? They say when you first came in here you were acting very… ill."

"Oh, yeah… I wasn't feeling very well when we first came in, but I'm alright now."

"In any case, how did you find this animal?"

"No idea. Can we go now?"

"Oh, of course go right ahead, just be careful with that thing; it's not poisonous but it still looks like it could have a wicked bite."

"Yeah, sure."

They quickly left, got in the car, and headed home.

John mother was quiet for a while, then asked, "John, you really scared me in there."

"Sorry Mom, but you couldn't understand it, at least not yet. I forgot to tell you that I saw where the monster came from, and two more creatures came through."

The car swerved a little. "What? There are more now?"

"I don't think one of the two will hurt anyone, but the other very well could. The one I'm not worried about said there's probably a lot more coming, too."

"What do you mean it _told_ you?" his mother asked, visibly shaking now.

"A lot's happened today that's going to screw with the world, Mom, the fact that I met something inhuman that was intelligent is the least of it. From what it said, the world's probably gonna go topsy-turvy real fast. Can you pull over? I don't feel secure with you driving while you're shaking like that."

She pulled over and placed one hand on her forehead, the other over her chest, and breathed deep, shaky breathes. John let her relax for a few minutes.

"So there are more fire breathing monsters on the way?"

"No, Celebi, that's the intelligent one, said that there were _hundreds_ of kinds of creatures that could come here. The other one I saw looked like a huge dragonfly, big as a car."

He told his mother everything that had happened, and how he was connected to the creature sleeping in his lap. His mother locked her jaw, and silently drove the rest of the way home. She said she felt a bit woozy as she walked in the door, and promptly collapsed on the couch. John let his mother sleep.

He flipped on the TV, but fell asleep from the fatigue of the day's panic. He closed his eyes and started to snore just as a news story came on about a football player at the local high school being checked by paramedics after allegedly being bitten by a massive insect.


	5. Redefining History

Chapter 5: Redefining History

John woke as he had the previous morning. The creature nudged his cheek, longing to be fed. John fed it as he had the previous day.

_Looks like he, or I, or whatever, only needs to eat about once a day. That's good I guess. Mom might be a little more accepting of it if it doesn't eat a lot. _He then brushed off the notion. _Actually, that's probably the least of her concerns._

He placed the creature on his bed, turned around, and jumped back as a familiar green figure floating a foot from his face.

"Hello again," it said.

"How'd you find me? And how'd you get in my house? And… wait."

He dashed to the door and barred the doorway with his usable arm.

"You leave my Mom out of all of this!" he commanded.

"Relax, the members of the sort of… elite order I belong to can't seem to Touch others anyway, for some reason."

"Then why are you here?"

"Just to see what you two have been up to. Looks like you had a rough day yesterday." It looked at the dark colored creature on the bed, which looked back with its head cocked slightly to the side. "A Monozu. Funny, I never pegged you as a dark type. Do you perhaps have some personal demons or unresolved personal conflicts…?"

It stopped at the look John had given it; he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"Forgive me." Celebi quickly changed the subject. "Last night, I took a look through your world's history. Apparently, our worlds have quite a history of contact with one another, never connecting to any other planes, but as the links don't last long, the few from my world that have come here have been lost to myths and folklore."

"What do you mean?"

"Certain rifts in history that I'm aware of tend to correspond with the origins of myths in yours, and the subjects of such myths are eerily similar to some of the pokemon from my world. Stories of sea serpents and sirens in the land you call Greece sound similar to Gyrados and Milotic. This 'Anubis' in your ancient Egypt was likely a Lucario. Dragons in Europe were likely a Salamence or Charizard, and more recently, a Magnezone may have found its way into where you now call Roswell, New Mexico. The list goes on. There are simply too many instances for it to be pure chance."

"So what does it mean?"

"With this many connections, it means that our dimensions have been drawn very close, and I can almost guarantee many more in the near future. There's something else as well. I'm unsure of how they came to this conclusion, but a number of your ancient peoples agree that something will happen less than two years from now. Many of your people today think that it signals the end of the world, which is of course, ridiculous, but the rate at which the two planes are converging suspiciously marks that date as significant." The creature broke off for a moment, and muttered, "Perhaps Palkia would know better…"

As with the last time he had spoken with this creature, John was lost for words; it was just too much to handle at once.

After a moment, he asked, "How many more have been Touched?"

"As far as I can tell, just two at this point. Some type of young sports player's parallel is an Aron, and a young girl nearby's a Combee. You may wish to familiarize yourself with the pair. I've never heard of two planes being drawn so close before, and if there are any unprecedented effects, you three will almost definitely be the first to experience them."

John didn't bother to ask what any of the creatures Celebi mentioned were; he had a feeling it would just make him more worried.

"Anyway, I must be off, I believe I sense that another rift will open later today, and I must keep track of those that come through as much as I can."

The creature simply vanished with a soft pop, leaving John blinking at where it had been.


	6. Growing Numbers

Chapter 6: Growing Numbers

Over the next several weeks a few more bangs resounded through the town, and the news displayed stories of peculiar bites more and more often, but those involved always refused to give interviews. _They just don't want anyone to think they're crazy because their mind is connected to an alien creature._ One day there was a brief mention of other such incidents having started cropping up in various sites all around the globe, but they didn't give any details. Slowly, people began admitting seeing bizarre creatures, usually roaming about at night. To bystanders, the stories sounded very farfetched, especially because few people ever had similar accounts. One person saw a bright orange, chicken-like creature, another a foul smelling flower with a face, something resembling a pinkish cat with a split at the end of its tail, and once even a purple living blob that seemed to come out of a storm drain. The town's police were almost laughing at the stories, but as more and more rolled in, they eventually initiated a curfew to ensure people were home before dark.

_And so it begins,_ John thought.

The news stations reported something about gas explosions on the edge of town to explain the loud bangs over the previous weeks. _It means they have no clue, and they're just making something mildly reasonable up so people don't panic._

The Monozu, as Celebi had called it, grew very fast, and by the end of the month had gone from just below John's knee to as tall as his belt. It soon became rather mischievous, hiding car keys and the TV remote and such. But each time John had to leave it alone to go to school, he felt the same sense of loneliness. When he returned home and the creature happily pranced toward him, he felt what he guessed was what it felt like to be reunited with a lost brother, even though he was only gone for half of a day. His mother gradually took to the little animal. Once, when Monozu hid her purse, she actually laughed, and said, "He's just like you were when you were little, John, just before your Fa…" She broke off and abruptly left the room. Monozu looked inquiringly at John.

John sighed. "When I was just a few years old, Dad left my Mom to fight in the war. When he came back, he just wasn't the same. One day, he just packed a suitcase and walked out; never said a word! Mom was so sad. She still gets like this sometimes." Monozu looked at the rug. "You don't understand a thing I'm saying, do you?"

Monozu looked up and clearly nodded.

John stood into a half crouch in surprise. "You can understand me?" It nodded again.

"How smart are you?"

It hopped into his lap, forcing John to sit back down, and gently pressed its forehead against John's. It then hopped from his lap, and ran to the back door, where it jumped on a chair and looked out the window. John heard a voice echo in his head, as it had with Celebi, but this one sounded gravelly, almost a growl.

"Ou-out-sy-outside."

"Outside? You want to go outside?"

It nodded. John hesitated. To avoid it being seen, which would obviously raise a lot of uncomfortable questions, he had only let it outside to relieve itself, and even then only when he was sure the coast was clear. John checked the neighbors' yards. There was nobody outside, so he decided it was safe to let it out. He opened the door and went into the back yard.

"OK, so why did you want to come out here? And how did I understand you just now?"

It looked at him. "Y-you, me? Me, y-you?"

John stared at the animal. "Yeah, we're the same, in a way. You're me from another dimension, apparently."

"T-try th-think talk."

John blinked at him. Monozu pressed his forehead against John's again.

"Uh, well, ok."

Feeling foolish, John closed his eyes and imagined thinking _toward_ him.

"Yes, th-that it."

John felt the tiniest resistance, like trying to press against the air, only to find a strong wind blowing in the opposite direction. He pressed further and the resistance suddenly fell away. He gasped as he felt the same sensations as when he had first encountered the creature. Monozu flinched as he felt the same. Each simultaneously experienced their own and the other's senses; saw from each other's eyes, felt the grass beneath them. They quickly pulled away from each other, returning to themselves, each panting a little.

"What the hell was that?"

"D-don't n-not know."

After a moment, John said, "Hang on, I want to try something." He reached toward Monozu once more, more cautiously this time. He felt the resistance again, and tried to impress his knowledge of the English language to him.

Monozu growled a little and shook his head. "Ah! M-much! T-too much!"

John quickly eased back. He proceeded at a much slower pace; imagining going through the basics of English, and steadily working up toward grammar and structure. After several minutes, he withdrew again.

He stared expectantly at Monozu. Monozu just stared back.

"Well, did it work?"

"Did what work?"

John leaned forward a little.

"I think it did. You're not stammering anymore at least."

"Well, obviously it worked, I can finally talk and not sound like I have brain damage, now can't I?"

John laughed. "Wow, this is just unreal."

"What, the fact that you taught me most of the English language in five minutes or the fact that I was capable of learning it that fast without my head exploding? Cripes, you gave me a headache."

"Sorry, but honestly was it worth five minutes of discomfort?"

"Maybe," he grumbled. "So explain to me how exactly we're the same?"

John explained as best he could.

"I'm going to be honest, you completely lost me, but then again, I am only a month or so old. Any idea how many more there are like us now?"

"No clue, but judging by the news, I'd say a dozen more, and who knows how many people got bitten that just never told anyone. Something strikes me as odd, though."

"Besides the fact that you're rationally talking to what you previously believed to be just some animal?"

"Seriously, though. Every person that's been reported bitten has been a kid or a teenager. Not a single adult's been bitten yet that I know of. You don't think there's some kind of strategy to what they're doing do you?"

"I don't even know what strategy is."

"Right."

John's mother poked her head out of the door. "John, what are you doing? What if someone sees it? Get in here!"

"Well, I guess that ends _that_ conversation."


	7. Seeds of Panic

Chapter 7: Seeds of Panic

"A young girl was spotted today with what may be one of the strange creatures reported by many residents."

John sat bolt upright and turned the TV up louder. Monozu sat up as well, and listened.

"Reporters were filming an update story on the topic earlier today, when Elizabeth Rose, age 6, was found in her front yard with this animal."

An image flashed up on the screen of a small, beige colored creature, which still wore most of its eggshell like peculiar clothes.

"When approached about the creature, the girl grabbed it and ran into her home. The girl's mother refused to answer questions on the topic."

John turned off the TV said, "Oh crap!" and turned to Monozu, who returned the look.

John mother rounded the corner, "Watch your language!"

"Mom, they got photographic proof of someone's parallel. I've never seen that kind before, but even so. It's really gonna hit the fan now that they know there's not just something in the water or whatever."

"Maybe it's better this way."

"What?"

"If people start knowing about them before there are too many, they could take things a little better. I hope, anyway."

Reports of strange bites continued to become more and more frequent, and the news finally noticed that only teens and children were affected. There were more proven sightings, too. John jumped a little as a picture of the same creature that had bitten him flashed on the screen, lurking around a shadowy street. Two more children were seen in the company of bizarre animals, one was small, purple, rather humanoid, and had what looked like polished diamonds in place of eyes, and the other looked like a bright crimson fox with a large, wide, bushy fan of a tail, but in each case they had managed to escape questioning. The reporters were becoming rabid for information on what they were.

One day on the way home from school, John passed by the local elementary school. He had taken a different route home each day for the past month and a half to avoid the muggers, and it had so far worked. Quite a few children were playing on a playground next to the main building. A young girl was pointing demandingly at a two groups of boys, each headed by the largest of each group, who looked ready to attack one another. John stopped and watched. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but was somehow mesmerized by the sight. The two groups slowly slackened, and eventually dispersed. The two lead boys still glared at each other, but at her apparent command, shook hands and went their separate ways. John smiled. _A natural born leader if I ever saw one._

A school bell rang, and the young students dispersed. John resumed his trip home. He went about half a mile down the sidewalk, and heard a soft scuffling of shoes behind him. John turned and saw the young girl from before. He stopped and frowned. She had the front of her collar pinched in her fingers and she was looking down her shirt, whispering.

"I know, but I can't let you out yet." There was a pause, then, "I know you're hungry but we're almost home."

She stopped suddenly as she noticed John. "Who are you talking to?" he asked.

"Uh, nobody. Mama told me not to talk to strangers." She suddenly sped up, almost to a run and moved past John.

"It's OK, I won't tell anyone." He had a suspicion of what it might be.

The little girl came to a halt. "You promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise," he said, putting one hand in the air comically.

She looked carefully around, but saw nobody.

"Alright, but you promised you wouldn't tell." She pulled on her collar again and whispered down her shirt. A rather large insect flew out. It was yellow, and looked to be made of three hexagons with a set of wings. Each hexagon had a miniscule face on it, and one had a small splotch of color on its forehead. "She says her name is Combee."

"Little girl, did an unusual animal bite you recently?"

She nodded. "A few weeks ago I was on the playground and a pink kitty walked out of the woods. I went to pet it, but she bit me like a mean kitty. There was a little ball in my backpack when I got home; I don't know how it got there, and Combee popped out of it. She's my special friend." She then added in a whisper, "I'm not supposed to have her at school."

John nodded, smiling. Even though he knew how creepy it would sound taken out of context, he said, "I have a special friend, too."

"Really? You have your own Combee, too?" she said excitedly.

"No, it's not a Combee, it's something different."

"Can I see it?"

"You can, but you have to promise to keep it a secret, OK? And we should get your Mom to say it's alright first, OK? My name's John by the way."

"OK, that's fair, my names Cindy," she said, smiling toothily. There was a gap where one of the front teeth should have been.

She led John to where she lived, which was actually just a few blocks from John's house. The girl's mother was very wary of John, and he honestly couldn't blame her. His wrist was nearly healed, but his arm was still in a sling, and he looked a little intimidating, even more so because her daughter was asking to go to this strange boy's house. Never the less, John introduced himself as pleasantly as he could. Cindy promptly let her mother know that she had told John about Combee, and her mother looked instantly concerned.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Believe me; I know what she's been through."

Her mother still looked mistrustful of John, but at length agreed to go, as long as she went as well. Cindy ran to the kitchen and put a few drops of honey in a thimble, which the large bee drained within a few seconds. John led them to his own house and opened the door.

"Mom, Monozu, I'm home! And I brought a new friend."

"What do you mean a 'new friend'?" His mother turned around the corner. "Oh, ah, hello."

Monozu looked around the corner of the other side of the doorway.

Cindy gasped a little. "Wow!" she said and fearlessly ran half the distance between them before he mother snapped, "Cindy!"

The girl quickly came to a halt. "Oh, sorry, nice to meet you," she said to John's mother. Cindy's mother put a hand over her face, as if praying for patience.

"Can I pet him?" she asked, turning to John.

"Ask him yourself."

Cindy's mother gave John an 'Are you serious?' sort of look, but when asked, Monozu moved his head at an angle as if to say, "If you must…" and Cindy ran forward to rub the soft hair on his head.

John turned to Cindy's mother. "To be honest I'm amazed at how well you've taken all this. Mom practically had a heart attack."

"I don't actually know what it is. One day she just comes out of her room with this big bee thing, saying it whispers to her. I took her to a doctor, but she said there wasn't anything neurologically wrong with her. It doesn't look like it has a stinger or anything and it hasn't caused any problems, so I just decided to let her keep it. My husband is overseas managing a building project, and I decided not to trouble him with it until he got home; he's busy enough as it is."

She sat down and John explained for what felt like the fiftieth time what was actually going on. Cindy's mother just looked blankly at him, not believing a word of it.

John felt a sudden contentment, and glanced over to Monozu. Cindy was scratching a spot at the base of his neck, and his head was lolled back, obviously enjoying it. Combee was buzzing around the room excitedly.

"Alright," John said finally, "it's getting tiring explaining things over and over again. Maybe I should just make up some leaflets or something; by now there's probably plenty of Touched, with a bunch more on the way. Sooner or later people are gonna come out of hiding about this sort of thing, probably sooner than later."

"What happens then?"

"Well, then people's capacity for acceptance will be tested." He paused, then said, "The biologist I mentioned said something about Monozu at least being able to go through some kind of metamorphosis. I don't know when that'll happen or what it'll entail, but I find it hard to believe that he's the only kind of these creatures that will do something like that. Between the ones that have come here and the few that have been seen with their parallels, there are probably quite a few kinds out there. Celebi said there are hundreds, but so far I've only heard of about two dozen."

"So what happens now?"

"News people have already seen a couple, so it's only a matter of time before someone spills it. The only problem is that I think the only people who know what's actually going on are in this room, and I don't know how people will react once people start admitting to having a mental link to an alien creature."


	8. Take Me As I Am

Chapter 8: Take Me as I Am

As if on cue, sightings of children with strange animals became increasingly more prevalent. John was having trouble keeping track of all of the creatures, and he took to sketching a picture of it every time he saw a new one. He slapped another page of paper down on the pile. It was a picture of a small, pale green creature with a ring of bright green studs around its neck, and a leaf protruding from its head. The page had the date, 3/24/2011, marked in the corner, along with a small black 50 in the upper left. He turned to Monozu.

Monozu had finally stopped growing, and was now the size of a large dog, as tall as John's navel. He had become a bit more independent as well. John once looked into the back yard to let him back in the house and found him chewing on a dead squirrel. What surprised him more, though, was that he wasn't surprised or even disturbed by the sight; he automatically felt as though such a thing was perfectly normal.

The echoing bangs continued and the news eventually confirmed that sightings of bizarre animals had been confirmed in many locations all over the world. The town's mayor appeared on TV one day, announcing that if he doesn't get answers about what's going on, he may decide to declare a state of emergency until he knows what's happening. _And cue people starting to spill the beans. I give it a week._

Sightings of creatures rolled in at a steady pace, but they were becoming increasingly stranger. One person claimed to have seen a horse with flames where hair should have been. Another saw a medium sized penguin with weird markings by the pond in the town park.

John's wrist was at long last fully healed, and he felt good to be rid of the sling. When they could, he and Monozu were practicing using their mental link. They found that they could tap into each other's knowledge, of which John's was much more substantial, despite his tendency to not pay attention in school. He was frequently falsely accused of cheating on tests, but even when he took them in a separate room, he always somehow knew exclusively what mattered for the exam. Monozu developed a positive thirst for information, and he slowly worked John into sharing what he had learned each day with him. Despite being little more than a couple months old, he was already well versed in basic math, and after much coaxing from him, had learned to read.

Four days after John prediction, a teenager appeared on the TV, accompanied by a small animal on all fours that looked covered in shiny armor. "Yeah, I uh, go to the high school here. I just kind of found this guy's egg one day; I dunno where it came from. It happened right after…" his slightly dim eyes widened a little as something occurred to him, "…right after I got bit by that huge dragonfly…" reporters all babbled, forming an unintelligible din. The small creature looked startled and ran behind the teen's leg. Over the following week, a few more children and teens, each with a unique creature spoke with reporters, each reporting having bitten by a foreign animal shortly before just happening on an egg containing the creature beside them.

The day after the fourth of such reports, the mayor appeared on TV once more.

"I have reason to believe that these dangerous creatures have been afflicting our youth with some type of undiscovered disease or infection. I am therefore declaring a state of emergency and have called in the National Guard to round up the creatures responsible. They will also be investigating the source of the explosions that have racked our town for the past few months." His face fell a little. "There's something else as well. Until this affliction is identified and contained, the town has been placed under quarantine. I'm afraid nobody can leave until this is sorted out."

_Alright, it might be time to make those leaflets before this gets too far out of control._

However, those that were Touched apparently took this as a sign that no more harm could come from it, and more and more youths no longer hid what was going on. They could be seen walking down the street with their parallels in plain sight… at least until the National Guard arrived. This practice abruptly stopped when an armed man stood at every street corner. But some refused to accept the occupation.

John once saw one of the stubborn few being roughly thrown against the wall of a building while a pair of men tried to restrain their parallel; the fox-like creature he had seen before. The men jumped back in surprise as it spat small flecks of fiery material at them, before having a muzzle put over its mouth. John gritted his teeth at the sight of the girl being led away by the men, kicking and struggling to get back to the crimson fox.

From then on, if John saw a person that looked familiar from when people weren't afraid to be seen, he would surreptitiously pass them a piece of paper explaining what was really happening and advising them not to be seen. The creatures that had been seen roaming to streets at night suddenly vanished when the Guardsmen came, but no reports came of them being captured or killed. _Celebi was right, they're smarter than I thought._

One day on the news, after a particularly loud bang, an image of reporters rushing about appeared on the screen.

"We now go live to Onsted Road, where the National Guard has discovered the source of the explosions."

The image became garbled and staticy, but a female reporter was still visible, standing before a rift, significantly larger than the one John remembered.

"The National Guard is unsure as to what this disturbance is, but they do confirm that this is the source of the loud noises we've all heard."

Behind her, numerous men with automatic weapons moved into an arc in front of the gaping hole in the barn and an official looking soldier moved into the image.

"Ma'am, you can't be here, you need to back to at least 30 yards away."

The woman looked a little offended, but glanced nervously at the rift, and shooed the cameraman back away from it.

A few moments later, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're still waiting to see how this develops…" She gave a yell of surprise and several creatures poured out of the rift. The first looked like a huge, green snake, with clever, yellow eyes, and two curls behind its head that made it look as though it was wearing a dark green cloak. Next, came a large, fat moth-like animal with fluorescent orange wings and a bright blue underside. Finally came the most intimidating of the group; a gigantic, light blue mass with four legs, each ending in a cleat-like claw, with a large metallic X across its face, which had no visible mouth.

The arc of men raised their weapons shakily, not knowing what to expect, and the confused creatures looked around. Nothing seemed to breathe in the area. The rift behind the three animals closed, and they were trapped where they were. The creatures eyed the men cautiously, and the light blue creature tenderly took a step backward. The camera jiggled ever so slightly as its foot touched the ground. The green snake creature on the other hand, moved closer and looked at one of the men. From his experience with Monozu, John could tell it was trying to be friendly, but the man it had approached fired, quickly followed by the rest of the men. The snake and moth quickly retreated and hid behind the light blue creature, which turned slowly and quickly walked straight through the other wall of the barn, as if it was made of paper, clearly not even feeling the bullets as they bounced uselessly off of its metallic skin.

The living tank, for lack of a better term, slowly picked up speed, with the other two ahead of it, and disappeared into the woods. The tremors in the ground lessened and became imperceptible as it disappeared.

The reported was just dumbstruck, but the Guardsman next to her quickly pulled up a handheld radio and commanded, "Put the town on lockdown, nothing in or out. Pass out armor piercing rounds, too," he added, glancing in the direction the mass of living metal went.

Several minutes passed, during which John and Monozu were full of adrenaline, staring at the screen showing frightened reporters. They looked at each other and exchanged the same look.


	9. Skirmish

Chapter 9: Skirmish

John felt antsy and nervous. As he walked home, he chanced a glance at the guards on the corners. They kept jumping at small noises and looking over their shoulders, gripping their guns tightly. John reached for his doorknob, and heard a scream nearby. The scream sounded somehow familiar. _Cindy?_ He let go of the door and ran toward the sound of the voice. Around the street corner, he found little Cindy pinned to a brick wall, Combee trapped in a net held by another Guardsman.

"Hey! What are you doing? Leave her the hell alone!"

The third man of the group approached John, barring his path.

"Let her go," John said slowly. When they said nothing, he tried to push past the man, but the man held firm. "What's she done wrong? You don't have any right to arrest people like this!"

"Ya wanna bet? It's called martial law, kid."

Cindy was crying against the brick wall.

"I said, leave her _alone_."

The man just smirked at him.

Cindy whimpered, "It's OK. I'll go with you if you let little Combee go free."

The man holding her to the wall growled, "Little girl, this thing might be small, but it's still a little monster and it's making you sick. So what we're going to do is we're gonna squash this nasty bug, and then you'll feel better soon, OK?"

"No!" Cindy was crying again.

John yelled, "You can't do that!"

The man said, "And why not? What are you going to…?" He broke off and looked into the net.

Combee was glowing bright as a star, and the man holding the net held it as far from him as possible, as if it were ready to explode. The bright silhouette expanded and grew to the size of a four foot tall person, tearing through the net as it grew. The light dimmed and John gaped at the creature in front of him. It had the coloring of a gigantic bee, and had a pair of insect wings on its upper back. Its lower body resembled a dress, it had a small midsection and a pair of arms, and its head was shaped like a crested crown; its mouth a pair of vicious looking mandibles.

"What the hell!"

The giant insect gave a shrill squeal and the three men scrambled for their weapons. There was a dim buzzing in the air, and the men all looked down the street, where a huge swarm of insects was buzzing toward them. A cloud of tiny bodies whizzed past John, and covered the three men, who ran, trying to escape the biting and stinging bugs.

Trying his best to ignore the giant bee beside him, he bent down and helped Cindy up. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks to Vespiquen."

John frowned. "What's a Vespiquen?"

"She's right beside you!"

"I thought you said her name was Combee."

"It was, but I just know her name is Vespiquen now."

"Okaaay…" said John, feeling confused. "Well, let's get you home before anyone else sees you."

Vespiquen suddenly flew high into the air, then came back down.

"She says there's nobody nearby."

"Uh, OK, let's go."

He escorted her back home, but he couldn't help himself from looking back at the giant insect following behind him; it was really a very startling image. John left Cindy at the door. He could imagine what her mother would think of Vespiquen, and he didn't want anything to do with that moment, so he headed home post haste. When he got home, he told Monozu what had happened.

"Assholes got what they deserved."

"Woah! Watch your language, buddy!"

"Hey, I'm not even human and even I know that roughing up a little girl is low."

"Not to mention that they wanted to kill Combee, and we both know what that would mean for Cindy."

"To be fair, they couldn't have known, but I was hoping that with all the Touched being kids, people would accept it a little more. It's not like they'd be willing to kill off the whole next generation."

"We're kind of stuck here, though. The ones that come through the rifts could really hurt people, and the National Guard is admittedly doing a good job of keeping them at bay, but at the same time, they could end up killing some of _us_."

"Do you want my take on it?"

"Well, obviously, considering you're technically me."

"We're better off dealing with the ones that come through the rifts. So far they haven't seriously injured anyone, and it sounds like most of the Touched are actually enjoying having their parallel with them, you included. Don't even try to deny it; I've seen just about everything in that noggin of yours; you can't hide stuff from yourself."

"So you're saying that what's going on is mostly a _good_ thing?"

"Who knows what fate has in store? Maybe all people are meant to become Touched."

John just stared at him. "Wait, why am I even listening to a three month old animal thing on matters of philosophy?"

Monozu stared back. "Jackass…"

"So what do you think we should do?"

"Find a way to get these Guardsmen to high tail it."

"And how exactly do you propose we do that?"

Monozu thought for a while, then said, "I don't know, but we definitely can't do it with just the two of us. I think… we should try to find out where they're taking the Touched and their parallels. If they're not treating them well, and you get some proof of it, people might start to side with you. One of the few things I do get about your kind is that you care more about your young ones than almost anything else. I don't know how much good it'll do at first, but if the town doesn't want these soldiers around, it will be a step in the right direction."

"And what if the ones coming through the rifts really are just monsters? What if none of this was supposed to happen at all?"

"I… understand. We can't know for sure, but either way, wouldn't you feel better if you knew the young ones are being treated well?"

"Maybe."


	10. Allied Nightmare

Chapter 10: Allied Nightmare

John was following a block behind a young boy who had been taken into custody. He followed them toward the rift site and found that a small military-esque base had sprung up over the course of a week and a half. The boy was roughly led into the largest building. John looked around for a way to follow without being noticed, but there were men bustling around everywhere, and there was no way he could manage to even get close. He lay low, watching the base from the cover of the bushes at the edge of the tall grass, hoping for an opening. Dusk slowly fell, but just as twilight was threatening to disappear, a blast rocked through the cool air.

The people in the base started scampering around like ants on a collapsed anthill. Something came through the rift, and the tension seemed to drain as if through a sieve. A lone man moved forward and shooed a small creature into a cage, which he placed on a table nearby. Next, there was a soft rev of a motor, and a small machine moved toward the rift on a pair of treads. Two men from the crowd fussed with it for a moment, and then it moved forward and disappeared into the distorted air. It quickly reappeared. A man stepped forward and fiddled with something, and shook his head. Another man started shouting at him, but eventually stopped, the rift closed, and the group dispersed.

All but a few men filed into the second largest building, and John seized his chance. He crept slowly and as quietly as he could through the thick grass. John took advantage of when the breeze rustled the grass and increased his pace, using the shifting grass as sound cover. The wind died down and he crouched where he was, shivering slightly. The way looked clear, but he didn't want to risk being heard now that he was getting close to the outpost. If he was detected, it would be very difficult for him to escape through the grassy field. He remained where he was and listened, but there was hardly a sound beyond the trees as the wind reached them, but he paused at something. He got the faintest whiff of… sulfur?

John felt his blood run cold, and he glanced in each direction as quickly as he could without making a sound. To his left, he saw something move. He squinted in the darkness that had fallen over the place, and saw a large thing, low to the ground moving at an angle toward him. John froze and slowly put his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound of his breath. He heard a soft shuffling sound from the direction of the motion. It turned very slightly and headed directly at him now, staying low, and scarcely making a sound. John didn't know what to do. He could run, but there was no guarantee that the thing wouldn't catch him, not to mention his cover would be blown and he may never get another chance. He decided to stay still and hope the thing moved past him.

The creature approached more and John finally saw that it was the fire breathing monster that had originally bitten him. John wanted to try to back toward the woods, but his feet felt welded to the ground. The creature came closer, and closer, John's heart pounded in his ears. John couldn't move a muscle, and the creature came within a foot and a half of him, and stopped, staring directly at him. It leaned closer and sniffed his cheek. John's heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, but he didn't make a sound. It looked into his terrified eyes, and then rubbed its nose gently into his shoulder before turning and focusing on the camp. John just sat there, stunned.

_What the hell just happened? The last time I saw this thing it tried to fry me and filled my arm with puncture holes. Now it's acting like we're old friends. What's the deal with this thing?_

The wind blew again and John knew he needed to move. He glanced over his shoulder several times as he moved closer, and each time found the creature right beside him, staring intently at the small base. The pair was very close now; only a few yards of high grass separated them from the tamped down area around the hastily constructed buildings. John thought he saw a tiny shimmer in the grass, glanced at the animal beside him, and abandoning all pretense, grabbed it in a bear hug and pulled it back. He felt heat under his arm where it touched the red splotches on its back, but he was relieved that no flames scorched his skin. The creature looked quickly at him, its lip curled up slightly. John tensed up once more, and trying to explain, he reached down and gently brushed the fishing wire-like line low in the grass with the tip of one finger.

The annoyed expression on the creature's face vanished at once, and it bent down and sniffed the trip wire. It glanced at John and carefully stepped over the nearly invisible line. John followed it and they came to the edge of the grass. John carefully lay down, trying to conceal himself as best he could while beside him, the animal did the same. A man stomped by, yawned loudly, and continued on his way. John looked both ways, then quietly rose from his hiding place and snuck to the edge of the largest building, which was placed just nearby. He peered around the corner, and gave a start as he heard a tiny rustle and the creature followed him. He snuck around the side and found a small window, with a biohazard symbol beneath it. He peered into it.

What he saw disturbed him. Rows of cage-like cells lined the walls of the metallic building. Many were filled; on one side with children and teens, most asleep against the wall, and the rest looking emptily into space. The other side was filled with the creatures John presumed were their parallels. The parallels were all restrained in some way, bearing heavy straps and chains. Many wore muzzles over their faces. He bit his lip and longed to free them, but could see no way to do so, let alone do so quietly. He slowly reached down to the small pouch on his hip and extracted his mother's camera. He took care to turn the flash off and snapped as many pictures as he thought would be needed. When he finally put the camera away, the camera read thirty pictures taken. He felt something brush against his elbow.

He turned and saw the creature beside him. John shifted away from the window, and it rose into its slouched sitting position to look through the glass. It let out a soft whine. Its eyes ran over the cages on both sides, but on each pass they lingered on a boy in his early teens, and on a mousey creature across from him. It was much smaller and rather round, but it had the same coloration as the large creature in front of John. John glanced back and forth between the animal beside him and the tiny, plump one in the cage, and he suddenly recalled how Combee had changed.

_No wonder he's especially interested in that one; that parallel is just a younger version of whatever he is!_

John heard footsteps nearby and tapped the creature tentatively on the shoulder. It glanced at John, and seemed reluctant to leave, but eventually turned away from the window. The pair moved to the edge of the base and silently back into the grass. A man walked by and paused to yawn. John took a tiny step backwards, and broke a small piece of stiff grass. The man stopped, looked into the grass, raised his gun, and cautiously approached. John and the animal slowly backed deeper into the grass, moving very methodically to avoid making a sound. The animal's ears perked up and it looked around at the same time as John felt a slight resistance on the bottom of his shoe.

Floodlights blazed and an alarm bell suddenly sounded through the camp. John looked back and saw that both he and the creature had backed into the tripwire. Shouts rang through the camp in all directions. A gust of wind blew, and John and the creature beside him stayed as low as they could as they half ran toward the tree line. John heard men shouting close behind them.

"There it is! It looks like there's more than one! Command said to shoot on sight!"

Adrenaline surged through John like a tide. Thinking fast, he looked at the animal beside him, positioned his fingers into a sort of crude claw, and mimed pulling his breath from his mouth and spreading it around behind them. The creature looked perplexed for a moment, but then fire flared from its back and it created a wall of blazing light in the grass, before ducking back down and running along next to John. They reached the tree line and ducked behind some bushes. John's eyes were wide as an owl's, and his chest was heaving. He smiled a little at their narrow escape and looked to the animal. His fleeting smile faded as he saw it shuddering on the ground, its leg dyed liquid ruby.

John carefully approached and saw that it had been hit in the leg as they ran. Ignoring his instinct to keep running, John reached down and hefted the animal up, supporting it as he would someone with a broken leg. John could never understand why; he just felt some strange loyalty to it; he knew it wasn't the monster it originally appeared to be. John helped it hobble through the trees and to the edge of town. He looked around. Large amounts of smoke were now issuing from the field in the distance. John peered into the dark streets. He hadn't accounted for the possibility that it could be dark by the time he got back. It was now well past curfew and there were sure to be armed men on street corners along the route home. The creature leaning on him was panting in pain now and John knew it would bleed out if he didn't get it somewhere safe soon.

He heard the sound of footsteps running on sidewalk and the pair ducked down behind a bush. A number of men ran around the corner, and hurried toward the smoke. A fire siren blared in the distance. John looked carefully around, and he helped the creature down the dark sidewalk. He peered around the corner but saw nobody. He kept going. More footsteps and another small group of men hurried past toward the smoke. John stealthily made his way back home, opened the door, and took the animal inside with him.

Monozu turned the corner. "About time you got back you prick. What the hell… hello, what have we here?" He had spotted the now woozy animal being laid on the hard floor.

John ran off into the bathroom. Monozu followed. "Your mom is gonna have a cow!" A rumbling chuckle came from his direction. "You are so boned when she wakes up, man!"

"Can it, Monozu."

He opened the cabinet and withdrew several items before hurrying back to the creature on the floor.

"Monozu, any way you can tell this guy that I'm gonna try to help him?"

"Maybe, but… hang on… isn't that the one that bit you in the first place?"

"Will you just work with me on this?" John snapped.

Monozu shook his head a little and said, "People are so backwards sometimes," but he walked over and growled something to the creature on the floor.

He looked up. "He gets it, but if you wanna help him, you should get a move on, he's not looking too good."

John kneeled down beside the creature, and grabbed a pair of tweezers. He gently moved it closer. As soon as the cold metal touched the animal, it flinched away, but slowly relaxed again. John found his mark, and as carefully as he could, inserted the point of the tweezers into the shining hole in its leg. A shiver ran down its length. John slowly maneuvered the implement until he felt something hard. He pinched the tweezers down on the bullet and slowly pulled it. The creature tensed again and gave a growl of pain. John hurriedly reached out with his free hand and pinched the creature's mouth shut. It continued to give a muffled whine until John fully extracted the piece of metal.

He then grabbed a cotton ball, put some alcohol on it, and dabbed the wound. John felt its jaw tense under his other hand. He grabbed a roll of bandages, and wrapped them around the animal's leg as best he could. He sat back, and realized his hand was covered in blood. He walked to the bathroom again, washed his hands and the tweezers clean, and replaced the things from the cabinet. He returned to the other room and found the creature lying on its chest, curled around and sniffing the bandages on its leg. It then tenderly stood and sniffed at the bullet, which John had placed in an egg cup. It looked up at John, hobbled over, and rubbed its face against the side of John's pants. It lay down at his feet and John apprehensively reached down and scratched its head. Its fur felt soft, but the dark hair on its back had some kind of oily substance in it. John rubbed his fingers together and sniffed it. It had the faintest hint of sulfur.

The creature had gone to sleep on the floor, and Monozu walked over. "Not too shabby, doc," said a mocking voice in John's head.

John ignored him. He walked over to the sink, and grabbed a lighter. He stared at his slightly oily fingers and turned the water on with his other hand. He moved the lighter close to his oily hand and clicked it. A small flame appeared over it. John quickly jabbed an oiled fingertip into the flame, then slowly placed it in the fire and held it there. He felt no burning at all. Several seconds had passed before he even began to feel heat. It slowly crept up in intensity until John finally jerked his finger from the fire, almost a full minute later. He examined his finger and found it completely unharmed. He closed the lighter, snuffing the light, and washed the oil from his hand.

_Interesting…_

"So when you're done trying to light yourself on fire, are you gonna tell me what happened?"

John snapped out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, right."

He explained what had occurred and showed him the images saved on the camera. "Wow, that's really… damn."

"Once again, watch your language."

"So what're you gonna do? Commando raid? I really wanna get out of this house for once in my life, can I come with you?"

"Monozu, do you even realize how incredibly stupid that would be? The only thing we'd accomplish is getting locked up in a cage, or worse. No, we need to think this through…" He paused for a moment, then said, "Strength in numbers. With enough people on our side, we might stand a fair chance at a rescue. I haven't seen much, but it doesn't look like these creatures aren't anything close to mundane animals. Vespiquen somehow made all the bugs around attack those guys; this one can breathe fire, who knows what you're all capable of? First things first, I should get these on the internet," he said indicating the camera. "If people see what they're doing to their kids, they'll flip. With any luck, that'll be enough to get the kids freed, but seeing as they still don't have the slightest clue what's going on, I wouldn't completely rely on that. They still think this is some sort of disease. At least they have the sense to see it's caused by bites and it isn't airborne, or who know what else they'd do."

John heard a stirring in the other room and jumped. His mother came around the corner, sleepy-eyed, and her eyes fell on the bandaged creature lying on the floor. She blinked several times in rapid succession, as if expecting to be dreaming, then in a sort of whispered shout, "John! What the hell is this thing doing in my house!"

"Well, you see…"

"What are you doing with my camera?"

"I, uh, I…"

"It dawned on her. Oh, you didn't!"

Monozu hopped up onto a nearby chair and settled back to watch the fireworks.


	11. Union

Chapter 11: Union

John finished with the computer in the local library and powered it off.

_There, now they shouldn't be able to trace the pictures,_ he thought, stowing the memory stick back in his pocket.

BOOM!

The very floor of the library shook, but not one person rose from where they were, though several uttered soft sighs of hopelessness.

_They're getting worse,_ John thought.

The news had at last confirmed that rifts had periodically opened in at least five other places across the world; Ireland, Japan, Egypt, Greece, and Hawaii, and that certain groups of creatures seemed slightly more prevalent in different areas.

The town's quarantine was still in effect, and young people kept disappearing. John once caught a glimpse of a small group of people breaking down the door of a house and dragging a girl and her parallel from it into a truck.

_This can't go on like this. The pictures should definitely do some good; most people know their kids are being kidnapped, and there's nothing worse than an angry parent. But even so, if something isn't done soon…_

John thought for a moment.

_I'll give it a week. If action hasn't been taken to get these kids freed by then, I think it's time we all group together to try and look out for each other. The only problem is, the same sense that makes most of the Touched hide away will make it very hard for me to track them down either._

A week came and went. It took just three days for the news to be lit up with the pictures John had posted, and as expected, the town's parents were far beyond livid. Within two days of the news story, there was a demonstration in front of the town hall demanding that the Guardsmen release the children and leave the town at once. Naturally the mayor was powerless to help, and Guardsmen turned up to break up the demonstration before it turned into a riot. Before long the town had been reinforced with full fledged military personnel, which discouraged further protests.

_Time's up,_ John thought at the end of the week.

He glanced at the fire breathing creature, which was sleeping on the carpet, still recovering from its wounded leg. He went to the other room and found Monozu staring at a book John had left open on his bed. John sat down next to him.

"So what d'you think we should do? How am I supposed to find the Touched so we don't all get rounded up like animals?"

"I've been thinking," Monozu started, "how do you suppose the big guy in the other room can tell the difference between someone who's been Touched and someone who hasn't? He must be able to tell or he would have gone after you again."

"I dunno, why don't you ask him?"

"Eh, I'm busy reading, go ask him yourself."

"And how do you expect me to understand him?" John said, indignant.

Monozu sighed. "Alright, let me try something."

John felt Monozu try to contact his mind, and for only the first time, felt Monozu transfer some knowledge to him.

"What did you do?"

"Just go talk to him." And with that, Monozu turned and went back to reading.

John got up, a little confused and sat down next to the creature, which was starting to stir. When it woke, John asked, "So, big guy, I need to know how you can tell the difference between someone who's been bitten and someone who hasn't."

The creature growled softly without opening its eyes all the way, "For the tenth time, I'm called a Typhlosion. If you don't start using my proper name, I'm just going to start ignoring you."

John gave a little start. "Well, then Typhlosion, that's not very grateful now is it?"

The creature sat up quickly and looked John in the eye. "Since when can you understand me?"

"Since literally thirty seconds ago. Apparently Monozu's been holding out on me this whole time."

"Well, that's a dark type for you. I once worked with a dark type for a year. They're the kinds of pokemon that can be a great friend, the scum of the earth, or anything in between."

John didn't quite know what to make of this, so he just shook his head and returned to what he had originally asked about. "So what's the difference between someone who's been Touched and someone who hasn't? And why are you all so intent on going after kids, while leaving adults alone?"

"Well," Typhlosion started, rising into his hunched sitting position, "there are a number of small things, but the most noticeable one is that they smell different. Young ones smell strongly of… something, which drives us crazy. By the way, I don't believe I ever apologized for that bite I gave you."

"Forget about it," John said, waving his hand through the air, "Continue."

Typhlosion nodded. "Well, older ones don't have that smell nearly as strongly as younger ones; and we can control ourselves around humans hat have reached maturity, but we are plainly out of our minds if we catch the scent of a young one. As soon as we bite one of you though, the smell goes away, and you don't smell the same anymore. Actually, you smell as much like a pokemon as a human afterward."

"So why don't people's parallels go after other kids?"

"You mean the pokemon like the Monozu in the other room that stay with a single human? I cannot say. They should smell young ones just the same, but they aren't driven to bite others."

John mother suddenly rounded the corner. "What are you two talking about in…"

She stopped as she saw who John was talking to. She put a hand to her forehead and leaned against the doorframe. "So you can talk to the other ones now, too?"

"Apparently."

She sighed, something she often did when John associated with the creatures; the pokemon as Typhlosion had called them. "What if they," She waved a hand toward the window, "are right? What if this is a disease which affects peoples' minds?"

"I know it isn't because I just know it isn't and because it would be all over the news if they had found some kind of bacteria or something."

John's mother looked unconvinced, and John didn't try to pursue the conversation further so as to let his high strung mother relax.

That night…

"Alright Monozu, spill it, you can tell the difference between regular people and Touched by the smell, right? So tell me who around me's been Touched."

"How am I supposed to know? The only people who've ever been near me are you, your mom, Cindy, and her mom, besides the time I got carted off and stuck with needles."

"Just drop it alright? Can you maybe use my memories to tell me who they are?"

Monozu referenced John's memories. "Your kind don't have a strong enough sense of smell to perceive it, so that didn't do anything but waste time."

"Boy, you really have an attitude problem today, don't you? Is there any way around that?"

Monozu thought for a moment. "Maybe, but even if there is, how do you plan to get a Touched away so you can tell them to meet you, and when and where do you plan to meet. No, wait, let me answer that for you; you hadn't thought that far ahead."

"Well I don't hear you coming up with any ideas!"

"The woods behind the elementary school, just after classes end for the day. A bunch of people go by there to pick up younger siblings sometimes, so the Touched can just blend right in with the crowd on the way back there. It's one of the few places in town that the military can't be; anywhere near a school zone. People don't want armed men around their kids. People can bring their parallels if they're small enough to fit in back packs or what not, and can hide them near the meeting spot on their way to class."

John was impressed. "That's… actually a decent plan, but what if… there's a snitch or something?"

"There won't be. If anyone ratted us out, they'd be in as much trouble as us, and I can't see kids just giving themselves up to be put away in a cell for months for no reason at all."

"Alright… but this is all based on being able to find the Touched in the first place. We don't even know how many are left."

"True, but we may have a previously untapped recourse, but I'm not sure if that will work, so don't get your hopes up too soon. Anyway, here's how we should be able to find who's been bitten, at your school for a start…"

They spoke late into the night, formulating how to unify the Touched into a single body.

"United we stand,"

"Divided, we get rounded up like criminals."


	12. Resistance

Chapter 12: Resistance

John was at his school. He had been having a hard time getting through this day in particular; he was distracted every few seconds by a new, unfamiliar smell, which he would have never noticed had Monozu not been riding passenger in his mind through the day.

_Typhlosion was right; you kiddies do have a funny smell… Hang on, that one there doesn't; he smells like a mixture of human and something else. Pass the kid with the glasses a note._

_You're sure?_

_Positive._

John quietly passed a note to the somewhat short boy as he passed in the hallway. He looked a little alarmed at first, but out of the corner of his eye, John saw him gingerly open the slip of paper, and look around suspiciously before carefully placing it in his pocket. John smiled a little and continued on his way. He had essentially no friends at his school, so he was hardly noticed by anyone as he went through his school that day. By the end of the day a total of fifteen Touched had been passed notes.

_Jeez, there's more than I expected._

_Not really, it's been like four and a half months since this all started. _

_Maybe…_

John continued this practice over the course of the week. Each slip contained instructions on when and where to meet, how to get there without raising suspicion, and criteria for what kinds of parallels should be safe to bring with them, including a note specifying that if they didn't feel secure bringing them, they didn't have to, so as to alleviate the teens' nerves.

Friday came and John left classes. John had to almost forcibly restrain Monozu from following him; he was too conspicuous to make it to the meeting place without being seen.

_Relax, you can come along for the ride in thought, okay? Just do what you've been doing this past week._

_Screw you, John._

John was the first to make it to the woods behind the elementary school, having nearly run there in excitement, and sat down against a tree. Nervous and paranoid looking people slowly appeared, some followed by bizarre animals which emerged from various bushes and trees in the area, many looking quickly around in all directions, none making a sound.

When it became clear that no more were coming, John rose to his feet. His augmented sense of smell told John that all those present were in fact Touched, and he relaxed, comfortable to speak to them.

"Alright, so it's pretty clear what we all have in common here, and it's obvious that the military has been mistreating the kids they kidnap. Since you all haven't been captured yet, you all obviously have the sense to know how to keep your parallels a secret."

The boy with the glasses from before, sitting beside a pokemon which looked made of colorful jagged shapes, like a wind-up toy of some sort, spoke up, "Our what now?"

John explained for what he hoped would be one of the last times what was actually going on. Many of the teens around John clearly couldn't believe what they were hearing, but listened anyway.

"So anyway, it doesn't look like anything's being done about the captured kids, so it looks like it might be up to us to do something about it. The only problem is, what can we do about it? I honestly don't see how we can get all those people out of there quietly. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

_Commando raid?_

_What is with you and your obsession with commando raids, Monozu?_

_You fell asleep watching a Rambo movie that one time._

_Oh, yeah…_

A nasty looking teen dressed in black said, "Eh, just let 'em rot, it's not worth risking our own freedom over."

There was a hushed uproar among those gathered.

A girl with watery eyes snapped, "My little brother's been captured!" A small, bluish pokemon with a somewhat shark-like head and a stout body beside her growled at the boy who had spoken.

Another teen said, "What's the matter with you!"

Many of the others gathered made similar comments. John slowly managed to restore order before the dim attracted notice. "Nobody's forcing you to participate in anything we try, but I guarantee most people here don't have the same attitude as you. So back to the matter at hand…"

He stopped abruptly. He looked to his side at a boy he hadn't seen arrive with the others. He looked calm for a moment, then slightly uncomfortable as John stared at him. John sniffed. He didn't smell like a Touched. In fact, he didn't smell human at all. John quickly reached down and grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and lifted him into a standing position. "I don't know who or what you are, but that disguise didn't cover up your scent. What are you really? Talk!"

The boy said nothing but looked mildly impressed at John, before grinning a little, revealing a mouth full of pointed teeth. John stared into his crimson eyes, unflinchingly.

The boy's image shimmered and John found himself clutching dark fur and staring at an upright fox-like creature, about the size of a man, with a huge trail of dark, reddish hair running down its back.

Several of the teens present yelped and suppressed screams. Many dashed behind trees or rocks, especially those closest to the creature.

The black fox monster shoved John away with surprising force, and dashed into the trees, smiling in a self-satisfied way the entire time. John stumbled backward and nearly fell back, but kept his balance and watched the creature disappear within seconds. Nobody spoke, but watched the bushes for several minutes. They suddenly heard rummaging through the bushes nearby and a boy identical to the imposter's guise emerged, panting a little. He looked around at the tense faces staring at him, before saying, "Uh… sorry I'm late, I got tied up after class. Should I just… go?" He asked, taking a step backward.

At John's instruction, the boy nervously stepped forward and found a seat. John looked at him uncomfortably until a light breeze blew and he relaxed. "So, ah… are there any questions?"

Nearly everyone present raised a hand.

"How could you tell that thing wasn't really a person?"

"What was that thing anyway? What did it want?"

"Why can I only hear my own parallel's thoughts?"

"What's your parallel like?"

"How did you find all of us?"

"How are our parallels so smart?"

"Are the bigger ones that came through the portal things friendly after you get bit?"

"Where have the bigger ones been going all this time?"

"We need to start watching the base to keep an eye on what's going on!"

"Are we going to meet again?"

"My little sister got bitten, too, can I bring her with me?"

John sighed and got to work answering the barrage of questions as best he could.


	13. Freedom's First Step

Chapter 13: Freedom's First Step

John was in the grassy field once more. The men in the base were just as jumpy as before, if not more so. A new building, big as a warehouse, had been erected over the charred remains where Typhlosion had covered their last escape. Ever since Monozu helped to enhance John's senses, he had had no trouble seeing even in complete darkness. It was a new moon, and the only light came from a central post in the middle of the camp. The warehouse building was guarded by two drowsy looking men beside a large door, like at a loading dock. John slipped silently through the grass around to the side of the building, and found a small window ajar, which he struggled to get through for several seconds before managing the feat.

John looked around and found himself in a small, dark office. He glanced around the deserted room and spotted a box of surgical gloves. He carefully plucked a pair from the box, donned them, and was free to search the office without leaving fingerprints. He moved to the desk and found two unlabeled drawers. He opened the top one and found a fair number of folders within it. Taking a folder from the front and opening it, he found that the drawer contained files on all the children and teens captured, including a photo of their respective parallels, marked with the name of the creature in quotes. Several of the folders had tiny, blue, transparent tags attached. John replaced the folder and opened the other drawer.

This drawer contained many more, thin folders, many containing little more than a photo and a single page of text. The folders in this drawer had numerous tags attached of various colors. John was unsure of their meaning until he found a small card in the pen drawer of the desk explaining the color coding.

Red – Potentially dangerous; must be kept sedated

Yellow – Threat level unknown; exercise caution

Green – Spotted at some point in time; not captured

Blue – Keep restrained

Black – Classified; kept in special containment room

John took a second glance through the bottom drawer and felt a jolt as he found a folder with yellow and green tags containing a picture of a young Monozu in a pet crate. There were no notes in the folder to suggest that the soldiers knew where he was, and John slowly relaxed. He moved silently to the door, and found it locked from his side. He quietly moved through the door and gaped at the facility. There were dozens of cages ranging from cat crates to elephant cages, each containing one of the alien creatures. All were either naturally asleep or had an IV bag attached to them dripping sedative into their blood.

John tiptoed around the border of the room and found a corridor lit with a dull red glow coming from small lights bordering the edges of the hall. John moved slowly down the hallway. He passed a metal door on either side, each with a steel covering over a slit in the door, like an interrogation room. John proceeded. On his left, he found a darkened lab filled with a wide assortment of instruments, most of which John did not recognize. A small apparatus with four vials attached was spinning quite quickly near a window on the opposite wall. One of the vials seemed to glow dimly in the darkness. John kept going and saw that the majority of the rooms beyond were offices, but three rooms at the end of the hall were lit.

John stealthily moved toward each. All three had opaque blinds drawn over the windows, but one was let down improperly and was slanted slightly at the bottom, allowing a slit of light to pour forth from the room. John peered inside. The room was empty apart from a desk in the corner and a surgical table in the center of the room. John looked closer and saw that the table was occupied by a silver and white creature with rigid wings flared backward from its back. It had a long neck and a rather dragonish face, a pair of strangely structured arms ending in hand-like claws, and a pair of fanlike structures near where John expected to see legs which appeared to have no function. An IV bag attached to a pole kept the creature in its slumber. John wanted a closer look, but found the door to be locked. A keypad and thumbprint scanner were located near the door.

Disappointed, John turned and found himself inches from a smiling, tall man in a uniform. "Well, what do we have here?"

Panic jolted in John's chest and he made to run, but the man blocked his path no matter which way he darted. He was trapped. The man reached forward, and John cringed backward, but instead of grabbing him as John expected, he reached forward, and crouched down to peer in through the gap in the blinds. "Well, what d'you know?"

He pressed a number of buttons on the keypad, and pressed his thumb to the scanner. The door unlocked with a click and the man stepped inside, and held the door. "Well, are you coming?"

Every instinct John possessed drove him to run, but his curiosity got the better of him and he cautiously stepped inside. The tall man didn't waste any time. He stepped forward and started pulling tubes away from the creature, detaching wires, and powering down a computer hidden below the surgical table. John's heart was still pounding as he looked around the room. His eyes fell on a folder on the desk in the corner, which had red and black tags attached. John opened it.

At first glance, John thought it was someone's entire medical history. There was a packet of brain scans, a few of which had a substantial portion highlighted, with a large "?" beside it. There were x-rays, and blood test results with several highlightings and a small "wow!" in the corner of one page, along with a blank page labeled "Behavior," and another blank page labeled "Potential Military Applications."

John frowned at this last page. _What in the world are they planning to do with this thing?_ Remembering the soldier behind him, John hurriedly glanced behind him and found the soldier still busying himself with wires. John hastily replaced the folder and quietly made for the door.

"Leaving so soon?"

John felt cold and stopped abruptly. He hadn't made a sound, nor had the soldier looked up, but somehow he had been detected. The man finished unhooking the creature and stepped back, looking now at John. A minute passed and nothing happened. Then, the animal on the table gave a soft grunt and stirred. John could barely breathe, but the soldier didn't even flinch. The creature's bleary eyes slowly opened and it rose into the air, unsupported.

"How are you feeling?" the man asked it. John was completely confused. Why would the army go through the trouble of keeping the thing subdued if they were just going to let it go?

The creature responded with a strange growl, "Like I got in a head butting competition with an Aggron, but who's asking?" It shook its head and looked in the soldier's direction. John jumped as he saw the fox monster he had seen recently standing precisely where the man just was. The floating creature's eyes widened and it zipped forward to hold the fox in a tight embrace. "Zoroark, it's been too long." The fox looked uncomfortable and slowly prized the other creature's arms off of it. It then looked toward John. "And who's this, now?" John's fast pulse sped further and he felt a little faint.

A voice echoed in John's head. "Well calm down now, I just want to know your name,"

John's voice shook. "I-It's John." The silver animal looked appraisingly at John before looking back to the fox. "So how long have I been out?" The fox walked over to the desk, flipped open the folder with the point of one claw, turned, and growled, "Looks like about a week and a half."

"Almost beat my old record… so tell me, what's the deal with this place? Arceus wasn't too specific."

"Before a few months ago, pokemon didn't exist in this dimension. Looks like when a pokemon comes through a rift, they feel a need to bite people, especially kids for some reason, and that makes a pokemon appear with them that corresponds to that person."

"The trans-dimensional parallel effect, go on"

"Naturally, humans are humans; they're all in a panic over it, they don't know what to make of it and they think it's some kind of disease. I haven't been here more than a few weeks myself, but I know that they've been rounding up all the pokemon they can, along with all the humans that have been bitten."

"That's awful, but nobody ever said that humans were entirely rational creatures."

"Anyway… how is it that you ended up in here?"

"Well, Arceus realized that Celebi could probably use some backup at this point… that, and I got picked for the same reason I went on my last assignment. I remember going through a rift that opened up near the Faldera Volcano in Oblivia, then there were a lot of bright lights and I couldn't see, then it felt like I got stung in the neck by something, then nothing until I woke up just now."

"Yeah, the humans here have gotten so jumpy that they've gone for a 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach. They just tranquilize anything that comes through a rift. I got lucky coming through and the only reason I've been able to keep an eye on things as long as I have is that they don't know about what I can do."

"Hmm." The floating creature turned and John saw a small, gold, triangular marking on its chest, along with a jagged scar over its eye, as if from a dull knife. The folder on the desk caught its eye and it moved closer to it. It picked it up and flipped through the folder, never pausing on a page for more than a few seconds.

"So what is it?"

The flying animal didn't answer right away. Then, "I don't like this page here." It held up the page marked "Potential Military Applications." "Do you remember what happened when the humans back home tried using pokemon as soldiers to fight one another?"

"I know it turned into a very messy situation."

"You could say that." It paused. "Well, like Arceus said, it sounds like most of the problems are stemming from these people just not understanding what's happening. Arceus told me to avoid force if at all possible. We definitely don't want to start a war."

John tensed at this and inched slowly toward the door.

"So how far along are the connections among the Touched?"

"Not sure, but I know that at least one of them," John froze as a bright red claw pointed at him, "has gotten to the point where his senses are improved thanks to his parallel. He's been able to hear everything we've said."

The dragonish creature looked surprised and turned to John, who ran. He didn't hear them following him but he didn't look back until he had rounded the corner of the hallway. He peered around the corner and waited for several minutes. The door at the end of the hall opened and two figured emerged. The fox monster, again in the disguise of a soldier, and a boy in his teens wearing a long traveling coat. The soldier opened each on the other blinded doors. They looked into the first and looked disappointed, then hurried into the other. The teen in the coat emerged a while later with what looked like a hedgehog with a lush, flowering shrub in place of spines, which was shaking a little. The three of them suddenly vanished with a small flash of light.

John stayed where he was for several more minutes, then hurried back into the office and escaped. He hurried home, sticking to the woods where the strange creatures were believed to be hiding, so as to avoid the soldiers on the streets. He thought he saw movement ahead, but it was just a fallen tree limb swaying in the breeze. He made his way home, slipped inside, and disposed of the gloves he had borrowed. Monozu greeted him gruffly, just before his mother strode into the room, visibly shaking, and grabbed John by the back of the neck.

"Are you out of your mind! I told you to stay here, and what do you do? Go running off again! I've had it with you John! I don't care if you are the way you are, you are not to go out again!"

John was half thrown into his room and his mother stomped away. John turned to Monozu. "So, any snide comments this time?"

"Not this time. You've been through enough as is."

John was surprised, but grateful. He checked to make sure that the door was shut and that his mother had gone back to her room before opening his desk and started to update his drawings of the creatures he had seen.


	14. Asking Nicely

**Just a quick note: I do appreciate reviews. (hint hint, nudge nudge)**

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Chapter 14: Asking Nicely

"Military personnel have recently stated that an identical note to the one at city hall was found near the outpost on the edge of town. Authorities believe that it is an attempt to seed panic in lieu of the current situation, but regardless, they request that if anyone has any information on the origins of these notes, they report it to the authorities." An image flashed on the television screen for the fifth time that week. It showed a letter written in shaky, uneven handwriting, like a child's. There was no signature, and reporters had said that there were no fingerprints left on the paper. It had said that all of the creatures that had appeared, referring to them as 'pokemon' were intelligent to various degrees, but were also animals in their own right. It tried to explain it by saying that they were almost like otherworldly animals which had been given sentience. It explained that pokemon possessed abilities that would be considered unnatural, even impossible on normal standards here, and that pokemon operated on a different logic than mundane animals; all kinds of pokemon had natural defenses and weaknesses against various elements, and most kinds undergo at least one 'evolution' in their life time. Apparently evolution was a crude translation of what actually happens to them, but it was the best way to communicate the concept. The letter concluded by requesting that the Touched and the pokemon be set free, as the technicalities of what was going on was far too complex to be explained by existing science, but it was definitely not a disease.

"On a potentially related note, the search continues for two creatures which escaped from the outpost sometime last week. Citizens are reminded that these creatures may be extremely dangerous and should not be approached under any circumstances. While the military assures us that the perimeter around the town remains secure, they request that if you see either of these creatures, or any other unfamiliar animals, you call this hotline." Images of the floating silver creature and the small hedgehog-like one appeared on the screen along with a phone number.

John turned off the TV and leaned back.

_Those letters have to have something to do with that silver dragon thing. He mentioned coming to give that green thing from way back when some backup. I guess there are a lot of these pokemon around now. They haven't talked about the other rift sites on the news in a while; probably the governments are keeping things hushed up._

John stretched and went back to his room. His mother had been watching him like some looming bird of prey ever since his last expedition, and there was no way he could escape. She had even walked alongside him to and from school, so there was no opening for him. John had compensated by slipping each of the Touched at his school a note telling them that he wouldn't be able to meet for at least a while, and to take extra care if they chose to meet again without him.

Typhlosion had been smuggled back to the woods with difficulty, which left John devoid of company other than Monozu. John and Monozu's bond continued to grow stronger and John picked up the vibe that if Monozu didn't get to come with John somewhere, sooner or later he would find a way to sneak out on his own.

John continued his normal routine. The school year was nearly over, but John wasn't excited to see it end. At least with school he had some way to occupy his time, but being restrained to the house for the entire summer would make it like a prison sentence. By the time the final bell of the year rang, two more notes had appeared, and it became known that identical notes had appeared at ever rift site around the world, always in the same shaky, English handwriting. The first of the new notes was just a slightly more insistent request for the freedom of the captures youths and the pokemon, which was of course ignored. The most recent note had been bordering on threatening; stating that they would be freed within the month either by the soldiers' will or otherwise. When interviewed, a lieutenant merely laughed at the notion, but as the clip ended, John noticed a flicker of unease on the man's face.

Three weeks and a 'last chance' note later, John was in his room talking to Monozu when the ground suddenly shook slightly. John stopped mid thought and listened. The ground shook a little again. He ran to the living room and flipped on the TV.

It was mayhem. Reporters were scrambling away from the outpost as a large number of otherworldly creatures overran the base. Something like a huge orange gorilla punched a group of men several feet into the air as they reached for their guns. They fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious. A huge something, looking something like an armor plated triceratops rammed an armored vehicle, tearing right through the plate steel and tipping it on its side. The camera turned slightly and John saw the building where the kids were being kept. Typhlosion and something like a large, purple cross between a bat and a scorpion were beside the door. Typhlosion sent a stream of fire at the lock and the bat-scorpion smashed the door in with a blow from one of its pincer-like claws.

Several moments later, kids and pokemon streamed out, apparently unperturbed by the strange creatures. A little boy paused and hugged the bat-scorpion on his way out. The pokemon looked a little stunned, but the boy quickly released it and ran off into the woods with the others, followed by a pink flying something, like a large bat. Several of the children looked overcome by emotion at finally being free after weeks, and in some cases, months. A teenaged boy stopped and looked viciously at the soldiers, but a girl that was likely his sister grabbed his hand and pulled him onward.

Little more than five minutes passed. The reporters were now at the road, filming everything that went on from a safe distance. The soldiers were in full retreat, positively fleeing to the perimeter set around the town where much of their force was. The pokemon did not pursue them. The men that had been knocked cold slowly came to, and, realizing where they were and what had happened, sprinted off after the others. The freed pokemon dissipated besides the armored dinosaur creature. The reporter hurriedly left when it turned to look at them.

John turned the TV off and looked at his mother who had appeared in the doorway shortly after he had turned it on. She looked at him and said nothing. By the end of the day the pokemon has trickled throughout the town, exorcizing the military presence to the borders of the town, and Touching several more teens and children in the process. Families who had children return were overjoyed, while those who had been unaffected by the military were terrified. Pokemon were now free to wander the streets again, and nothing could be done to stop it.


End file.
